Here at Goonhammer, we know that it’s hard to keep track of all the news happening all the time in the games industry. So much is always going on with games of all sorts, and their related media, it can be a real blink-and-you’ll miss it situation.
That’s why every week, we round up five of the biggest stories in the gaming sphere from the past week in the Games Industry News Roundup. Our trusty news boy, Dan “Swiftblade” Richardson, is here with the scoop.
Games Workshop Cancels Warhammer Open in Tampa
Games Workshop announced on Monday that it has decided to cancel the Tampa leg of the 2024 U.S Warhammer Open Series ahead of a brewing storm in the Gulf Coast.
The event was initially planned to be held in Tampa this upcoming weekend, October 11th-13th, at the Tampa Convention center. As the third leg in Games Workshop’s annual US Open series, the event would feature major tournaments for the Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar, with Golden Tickets to the World Championship of Warhammer as a prize, as well as large events for specialist games like Kill Team. The Tampa Open would also have featured painting classes, a digital entertainment center, and a large shopping area featuring Forge World resin products not usually available in stores.
With ongoing recovery from hurricane Helene that hit the area in late September, the status of the event was questionable for many even before the news of a new hurricane headed directly for the Tampa area came earlier this month. The new hurricane, Milton, is forecast to make landfall on the western coast of Florida on Wednesday. On Monday, the storm rapidly strengthened from a category 1 to a category 5 storm, and as of measurements taken on Monday is the second most powerful storm by wind speed recorded in the Atlantic ocean.
Games Workshop writes in the Warhammer Community announcement that “We do not make this decision lightly. We know you’ve invested time, resources, and energy into preparing for this event, and we have exhausted every alternative consideration. Ultimately, as recommended by the state and city government, for the safety of our staff and guests, the event will not be able to occur.”
Those who bought tickets to the event will be issued full refunds within seven business days.
Halo: Flashpoint Second Wave Pre-Orders Go Live
Mantic Games announced that the second wave for it’s upcoming Halo: Flashpoint game is live for pre-order on the Halo: Flashpoint website, as well as reprints for the sold-out launch products,
These products, which are scheduled to release in Q1 2025, includes a mix of exclusive items from the first wave now being sold separately and new expansions for the base game. Some of these exclusive products now available for individual purchase includes the Master Chief miniature and paint set, as well as Fireteam Hydra from the Recon edition of the base game.
New products being released in the second wave of Halo: Flashpoint includes the War Games expansion, featuring new scenarios and points for all the miniatures released up to that point and four new Spartans equipped with exotic weapons like concussion rifles. Joining these armed to the teeth Spartans is Fireteam Cerberus, whose loadouts include similarly wild wargear like the Gravity Hammer.
Alongside these model releases will be new terrain for games of Flashpoint, as well as deluxe neoprene mats. Q1 2025 is also the expected rollout window for the organized play packets for Halo: Flashpoint, bringing officially supported tournament play for game stores with burgeoning Halo: Flashpoint scenes.
The Fireteams and War Games expansion are currently slated for a March release, and the other supplementary products and Organized Play packet to be released through Q1. Halo: Flashpoint is scheduled to release this November.
Nintendo Shuts Down Popular Fan-Made Switch Emulator
Nintendo’s aggressive pursuit of anyone emulating its products continues this week, with the Switch emulator Ryujinx taken down after its creator was contacted by Nintendo.
According to an announcement on the official discord for Ryujinx, the creator of the program was contacted directly by Nintendo and was “offered an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organization and all related assets he’s in control of”. While those close to the project waited to learn how the creator would respond, the download page for Ryujinx was taken down and the organization disbanded.
According to Ryujinx developers, the team behind the emulator was nearing completion on an IoS port of the program that “ran really well”, as well as major progress on an Android version.
The shutdown of Ryujinx is the second high-profile emulator to be taken down by Nintendo this year, with the Yuzu emulator being shut down after a multi-million dollar settlement earlier this February.
The WeeklyMTG Livestream Sheds Light on the Future of Commander
Following the fallout of both the banning of some of Commander’s most popular cards and the dissolution of the volunteer Commander Rules Committee, the Wizards of the Coast Magic live stream WeeklyMTG focused on providing fans some answers regarding the future of the format.
The live stream firstly reinforced that the safety of the CRC members who were threatened following the updated Commander banlist is the top priority, and assured fans of the format that they will still have a say in the future of the format.
With Wizards taking control of managing the Commander community, the livestream laid out plans for a new internal team at wizards to shoulder the mantle left by the CRC. This committee is planned to be staffed by high level players and casuals alike, and will include members of the former CRC who would like to participate. It is currently unknown if membership on this panel will be entirely public or not, according to the livestream.
WeeklyMTG also expanded on the new tier system being introduced into Commander. Currently, it’s planned to have four different power level tiers, based on the cards and combos in each deck. A level one deck represents casual play for the format, with level four being the top-tier competitive decks and cards. The team hopes to have possible digital filtration of what cards and decks fall under what power levels in the future, and is open to the possibility of expanding the system to include fifth tier of power.
The new panel is hoping to have the first steps in the tier system rolled out by MagicCon Las Vegas later this month, though aside from this and updates to the banlist the team does not want to make any major decisions to shake up Commander until the committee can get more experience managing the format under their belt.
Warhammer Day Preview Teases the Next Faction for Warhammer 40,000
This past Saturday was Warhammer Day 2024, and featured a preview from Games Workshop of upcoming releases hosted on the Warhammer Twitch channel.
The show opened with a big shakeup for Underworlds fans, as the next box set for the game, Emberguard, acting as a new edition and hard reset for the game, designed to help bring in new players to the game. Fans of the Mortal Realms were also treated to the first look at the next Battletome, Slaves to Darkness, and the accompanying Sorcerer Lord miniature.
Games Workshop also announced the Christmas Battleforce boxes during the live stream, with five for 40k and four for AoS. These boxes are themed to work with certain detachments already in the ruleset, and designed to supplement the Combat patrol and Vanguard boxes respectively.
Specialist games were a bright spot of the preview, starting with Imperialis getting a Dark Mechanicum themed expansion, Kill Team fans were treated to a look at the next Kill Team, which features elite Orks with explosive rockets and hammers squaring up against Ratlings in the Brutal and Cunning expansion.
Finally, the end of the preview ended with a big teaser for the next Warhammer 40k faction. While no miniatures were shown off, the final screen of the preview was the symbol for the Emperor’s Children Chaos Space Marine Legion. With the Warhammer 40k roadmap teasing something big for Chaos in the first half of 2025, fans of these Slaaneshi Astartes seem to have a lot to look forward to in the new year.
And that wraps it up for our Games Industry News Roundup this week! Join us again next week for more news about the tabletop games industry and related media.
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